Vallejo Fire Crews Encounter A Booby-Trapped Marijuana Grow While Fighting Fire
VALLEJO (KCBS) — Firefighters attempting to extinguish a fire inside a burning building in Vallejo Thursday night soon discovered the structure, used as medical marijuana grow was booby-trapped, authorities said.
Fire crews responded to the fire at a commercial building located at 615 Florida St. at about 6:45 p.m. Vallejo Fire Battalion Chief Cliff Campbell told KCBS that large amounts of smoke were billowing out of all sides of the building as well as the roof. Upon entering, they discovered that trip wires were set up all over the structure and were connected to pepper spray devices and smoke bombs.
"We did have one discharge from the rear of the building from another crew back there and the building was completely charred or smoked so don't know whatever hazards are involved so at that point in time we had the main body of fire knocked down but we pulled everybody out of the structure," Campbell said.
Following the evacuation, a bomb squad was called in to investigate.
No one was inside the structure at the time of the blaze and no firefighters were injured, he said.
Campbell said this wasn't the first time that the department has encountered a structure that was booby-trapped.
"We have come across several grow houses and it seems to be increasing in numbers throughout the last couple of years that we come across, and every one of them poses their own hazards," he said.
The fire at the legal marijuana grow, where several hundred plants were being cultivated, apparently was caused by an electronic malfunction, Campbell said.